Razsypnoye, Ukraine: At the site where the MH17 cockpit fell, in a field of sunflowers near the village of Razsypnoye, residents had by Sunday made a small memorial shrine of flowers, candles in tiny jars, and brightly coloured teddy bears.

Photocopied pictures of children and families killed in the disaster, apparently from news coverage of the victims, had been set out on the grass.

Mementos placed by local residents at the crash site of MH17 near Rozspyne in Ukraine. Photo: Maxim Zmeyev

All bodies, including that of a woman who had been covered by a tarp about 50 metres away, had been removed.

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"There were five or six over here, and two or three over there," said a young man with a rifle guarding the site, who declined to give his name. "They took the bodies away to the morgue. Firstly, they were decomposing. And secondly, the smell was horrible."

Now, all the remained was the mangled mess that was once an aeroplane carrying 298 people, and a field of flowers. The contrast could not have been more stark.

A picture of MH17 victim Steven Noreilde, from Brasschaat, Belgium lays next to a soccer shirt with his name on it at Schiphol airport in Amsterdam. Photo: Patrick Post

Across Europe and around the world, candles were lit, and prayers and flowers offered in remembrance.

In the Netherlands, priests lit a candle for each of the 298 victims at St Bavo's Cathedral in Haarlem.

On the streets of Kuala Lumper, residents lit candles for a doomed Malaysia Airlines flight for the second time in less than a year.

A little girl pays her respects during an event to mourn the victims of MH17 in Kuala Lumpur. Photo: Lai Seng Sin

Malaysia Airlines announced its own memorial, saying the MH17 flight number "will be retired out of respect for our crew and passengers". The route would now be designated MH19.

Back in Ukraine, the fighting continued. Ukrainian positions were on Saturday night fired on twice from across the border with Russia, the Ukrainian armed forces said on Sunday.